THE HISTORYMisao was once a loving, caring human being like all of us, but she had one impossible flaw: a lifetime of bad luck. As a child she lived a small portion of her life in Japan with her Asian-born father, and American mother. When she was seven she moved with her parents and her brother to America in order to follow her father's growing career as a journalist and author. Early in life Misao was made fun of for her "slanty eyes" but her brother seemed to take his uniqueness in his stride and received a lot of positive female attention.

Misao seemed to always be the odd one out: always picked last for group sports--even though she was quite good--always pining after a boy but never securing one of her own, and never having more than five or six friends at birthday parties. She accepted this blindly as just the way things were. Her friendships never lasted longer than a couple years. Her longest friendship lasted an impressive eight years but quickly dissolved once college began. Other friends used her and/or moved on over time. There was never any reason for this; Misao was naturally shy but still friendly. She was always warm toward people she liked or wanted to get to know better. Perhaps she was just too different.

Never being able to decide between being a tom-boy or a girlie-girl, Misao flopped back and forth or fell into some tangy mix in between. One day she would come to school in a pink summer dress with white frills at the bottom and the next in cut off jeans and a soccer jersey. As a young girl she hadn't seen a problem with lifting up another girl's skirt to see what color underwear she was wearing: "Yellow! Mine too!" She could be impulsive at times and throughout her years her sense of curiosity would never die.

Boyfriends were another thing that never could get a grasp on. Misao had never had a boyfriend, let alone been on a date until college. The only intimacy she had ever had was when she was sexually assaulted by her babysitter. When she was twenty she finally had her first boyfriend. In her mind the sun rose and set with him. She would have done anything for him. But he seemed to quickly lose interest in her. They were together for two years and probably only because the years went by so fast. He had tried to break up with her after the first year but Misao couldn't let the love of her life go. She spent one of the most painful years of her life pining after him and he eventually took her virginity. A week later they ended for good. Misao was a mess: having lost her best friend and her boyfriend she felt more alone and naked than she had ever comprehended in her life. However, she made new friends and began to heal. She met a new boy and, despite her better judgement, started dating him before she was ready. But she couldn't afford to let another man go, could she?

This boyfriend was sweet as anything to her and loved to be by her side--or seemed to. When he made love to her he was aware of her needs and wants and wanted to please her. When she graduated college she hoped to have him in her life--possibly move in with him--she could see herself with him in her future. But suddenly the phone calls stopped, the sweet man she had known was gone. And in his place stood a cheater. He had played her. And when he was done he threw her away like a candy wrapper after the chocolate is gone.

Her hardships were not yet over though. She moved in with her best friend after college and this "friend" kicked her out after a month with no explanation--only an unwarranted physical attack. Her roommate and ex-best friend kept Misao's things and Misao was now homeless.